HARRISBURG (KDKA) – State. Rep. Bill DeWeese was found guilty on five counts of theft, criminal conspiracy, and conflict of interest.

“The jury has rendered its verdict. It is a disappointment. It is a major determination in the criminal justice system and there’s just no downplaying it,” commented Bill Costopoulos, DeWeese’s attorney after the verdict.

DeWeese was found guilty of using taxpayer paid state employees for political work on government time — charges DeWeese and his attorney disputed from the beginning and now will appeal.

“I certainly have faith as the protocols of the ensuing weeks go forward, the appellate tribunals will give me every opportunity for Mr. Costopoulos and I to make our case,” DeWeese told reporters outside the courtroom.

In DeWeese’s hometown of Waynesburg, Greene Ccounty, most folks are very supportive of the man who’s represented them in Harrisburg for 35 years.

“He’s a very upstanding guy,” says Travis Lemley of Clarksville, “I’ve known him personally. He’s never done anything to my family that makes me feel that he’s guilty, so I think they made an incorrect call on this one.”

It’s a common sentiment out on the streets in the shadow of the Greene County courthouse, as KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano found out when he talked to Tracey Rhodes of Carmichaels.

Delano: “Are you surprised?”

Rhodes: “Yes I am. Very surprised.”

Delano: “Has he been a good state representative for this area?”

Rhodes: “Yes he has. Very good.”

And some think losing him will be costly.

“He has brought a lot of money into the area, and we’ve really enjoyed having the perks that he has brought to us,” notes Mary Ann Dispenza of Waynesburg.

But others say DeWeese’s employees may have campaigned on state time.

“I’m not sure on that one, but I’ll tell you what — there were a lot of people out on times of the day when it was work hours,” notes Jon Bunch of Waynesburg.

DeWeese asserted that a local jury of his peers would have found differently in this case.

But Article II, Section 7, of the State Constitution states: “No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime shall be eligible to the General Assembly.”

And the House — on two-thirds vote — could expel DeWeese once he’s sentenced in late April.